Conflict between President / Professor

There is an interesting case that needs to be examined even if it does not fit the traditional professor-student model. This case is relevant because it involves a President-Professor model that received a lot of press because of the actors involved.

Dr. Cornell West is a prominent professor at Harvard University in African-American Studies and Philosophy of Religion. Dr. West can be credited with making Harvard's African-American Studies Department the envy of all other schools in the world. For various reasons, he released a rap album in 2001.

What made more noise than the music on the vinyl was that Dr. West went against the wishes of his superior. Harvard President Dr. Larry Summers publicly stated that Dr. West's action was an example of "conduct unbecoming of a Harvard professor."

To put the matter into context, it is interesting to describe the three cycles of rap music as coined by Grandmaster Flash, the father of DJing in rap music. Grandmaster Flash argued that rappers, or MCs, sang about three topics: things, people and places. Many would argue that rap's golden age was marked by the era when Public Enemy and Arrested Development sang about people and places. When Dr.West released his album, rappers were singing about material things. In some ways, Dr. West sought to claim the throne as the next Chuck D, founder of the influential rap group Public Enemy. Chuck D had once labeled rap music the ''Black CNN'' and as you can imagine, CNN's claim to fame stems from the stories it reports on people and places, and not necessarily the stories on material things.

Whether or not Dr.West's music backed up his website's claim that he ranked as "one of the preeminent minds of our time" remains to be seen. The bottom line is that Dr. West did nothing other than extend his thoughts and public relations skills that have made him to be one of the leading African-American intellectuals in the US.

Nonetheless, Dr. West should have considered Harvard's culture first. Asking for permission would have violated what he stood for, but it was understandable for the President of Harvard to feel slighted by the unusual act of a Professor releasing a rap record. The content was not the issue. It was how Dr. West ignored the context that he was in.

The irony is that President Summers' appointment to Harvard was intended to address the institutional imperative at Harvard. It is a school steeped in tradition yet critical of mainstream thoughts throughout American history. The bottom line in this case is that both individuals remain unscathed because of their track record and their popularity. Until you have a track record to back you up when you choose to go against the grain, protect your neck and understand the culture you live and work in.